Eli's Eternal Echoes: A good week and some good times!

Hello everyone,

This week was amazing and I am really happy! The highlight was when a senior couple came to Bornholm and did an apartment inspection (we passed!). We ate dinner with them and got to talk for a bit. Always good to see and interact with wise, fun senior couples.

The beginning of this week started out with something actually really cool. On Tuesday we are out in a city called Aakirkeby! We had knocked here a bit and wanted to visit and found a few friends that said we could come back. We visited three people and each of them were home and answered the door (miracle)! We ended up having 3 unplanned lessons and got to even eat some food they offered to us! It really felt like the hand of the Lord blessing us that day. We were told we could come back and we look forward to those visits. We hope to continue teaching and finding those that want to listen. 3 in one evening is really a miracle for us.

On that note I wanted to talk about something that I believe is very important. A big part of the work that we see is how open people are after we have offered to serve them. When we were knocking these 3 doors, we asked 2 of them if we could come back and serve them. After asking they were very happy to speak with us! I believe true service comes from a desire to help God's children instead of trying to help ourselves sometimes. I hope to be able to develop my skills in that more. A good reminder and lesson for all of us I think.

One thing I do in my personal study to help me focus more on true service, the love of Christ, is that I add in modern day general conference talks and other good church material my dad and brother recommend to me. It's really helped me round out my study time. This helps me find ideas that stand out and help me apply them in more meaningful ways and I find myself looking through the scriptures or words of Church leaders for a similar topic! I do enjoy this study time so much and learning more about how to be like Jesus Christ.

To end this email I thought I could share ten things that I have learned from my companions on the mission.

1. To be more patient when you don't understand

2. To develop meaningful communication

3. To serve even when irritated

4. To laugh and smile as much as possible

5. That I sound like a drunk person in a hallway if I sing

6. To be open about criticism

7. Train your muscles to failure

8. Eat to failure

9. Find peace in every moment

10. Love and Trust in the Savior

I have been blessed with the best companions and we have such a great time together serving and learning.